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I'm wondering why there is no mention of this organization's start as a program of Operation Smile. Its own site (smiletrain.org) previously mentioned this, but the letter now appears to be available only through Google cache. [1] Robertissimo 06:39, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for your recent edits to Smile Train. For what it's worth, its always good to have pro's and con's in a 'controversy' section to provide balance and maintain NPOV. That said, rather than just duplicate info from the American Institute of Philanthropy, I linked to that article as well as Intelligent Giving. I also linked to the Steven Levitt article, and moved his quote, modified to include more of his quote, to the section lead.
It's not clear from the nature of your edits to Smile Train whether you have a [ conflict of interest], but your edits to remove controversial information, provide unreferenced, pro-Smile Train information in the "Controversies" section of the article, the fact that you've only contributed to the Smile Train article, and that your User name has has "Smil(l)er" in it — all these suggest the possibility of conflict of interest. Be advised that editing with a 'conflict of interest' is strongly discouraged, and that editors with a conflict of interest are encouraged to declare their conflict of interest on their talk pages.
In the meantime, please use edit summary line to clarify your edits. 842U ( talk) 10:41, 20 January 2010 (UTC) Thanks for your feedback to my edits on the Smile Train page.
After you make a post, you need to sign your post, using four tilda's. Otherwise the bot will come along and sign for you.
While AIP has it's detractors, as is completely spelled out on it's page, those general concerns have nothing specifically to do with Smile Train; there is no demonstrated link to the cited statement regarding Smile Train. The issue does belong in a controversy section, as it is two-sided argument or debate whether Smile Train is or is not fiscally responsible or efficient — with each side presented by Levitt and AIP/Intelligent. 842U ( talk) 03:13, 21 January 2010 (UTC)
Notice that none of the references added for this edit, which added the list of Special Ambassadors is actually a functioning reference. In other words, the list is completely unreferenced. Either the references need to be fixed or the list needs to be removed. 842U ( talk) 19:06, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
I went ahead and corrected the reference, renaming the section per the source page, which is that these individuals are "supporters" not "special ambassadors." Be clear, that this inclusion of a promotional list of supporters does not meet the Wikipedia criteria for NPOV — and probably should be removed altogether. 842U ( talk) 19:18, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
PS: Any reason the list of "supporters" would include a deceased person? 842U ( talk) 17:04, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
The majority of recent editors to the article fit this pattern: they show up, expand the article greatly in a pro-Smile Train fashion, make no remarks when making their edits, make no other edits to any other article, and then disappear without responding to comments on their talk pages. Are these sockpuppets? Here is a list of editors who fit the profile: 1975athomas, Buddha29, Sharonwestwoods, Smiller44, Whalenkis, Jhmumford, and Thesmiletrain. What gives? 842U ( talk) 21:20, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
Here's what gives: [2]. Reverting article to January 13th edit, prior to disruption. 842U ( talk) 04:01, 3 February 2010 (UTC)
I made several changes to the Richmond Times section. This headline should not be bolder than the others. It should be the same font as all of the others. Also, it was not a "campaign," it was simply one ad. So this title should now simply be Richmond Times. To change the headline back, please find proof of a campaign. Additionally, I added the American Insitute of Philanthropy ratings as they were also in this article and are relevant to this section. Should you choose to remove this, please justify. Additionally, Bill Magee refused to respond so I corrected that part. The organization itself responded. To recent users who have made changes, please also be sure to note your possible conflict of interest before making edits. 923Y —Preceding undated comment added 22:29, 26 February 2010 (UTC).
Recent changes to this section of the article by Porous seem to have made the section inflammatory. There is no need to 'color' the information presented in the section with a title that characterizes the Richmond Times incident as an attack. The best thing to do is to eliminate anything emotional from the tone of the section, and let the information talk for itself -- using solid references. For this reason, I've reverting the section title to Richmond Times Dispatch, and re-introducing the section as it was before. 842U ( talk) 12:30, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
Claims of the number of surgeries performed by Train rely on a reference to a Frekonomics blog post by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt. However Levitt notes that he is a historic supporter of train and refers to an earlier post in the same blog. In that post, Levitt mentions spending an evening with Train where he supposedly learned of the claims by Train. These claims may well be acurate and true but how are we to know when they are relayed by a Train supporter who learned them from Train itself. This citation might as well cite Train's website itself. I think the claims should be reworded to say "Train claims. . ." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kydp ( talk • contribs) 17:55, 17 December 2010 (UTC)
I've removed the field of flags from the article. It seems like it would be a headache to constantly maintain, and conceptually it doesn't inherently add any more info than saying "more than 80 countries". - Here Under The Oaks ( talk) 14:27, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
The org's logo doesn't say "The" Smile Train any more, just "Smile Train". What's the proper way to update that? -- 75.151.145.57 ( talk) 00:31, 18 March 2012 (UTC)
There was a "criticism" section here a long time ago, which seems to have been removed. I'm placing criticism here in Talk for future reference:
Charity Watch has questioned some of the company's financial claims, also criticizing the $420,209 compensation package of Smile Train's President & Co-Founder, Brian Mullaney.[30]. Although the charity responded that "100% of Mr. Mullaney's compensation, benefits and all travel expenses are paid for from the temporary restricted funds set up by the founding board members to cover overhead and fundraising (non program) expenses," Charity Watch asked: "How can 100% of his salary be paid for by a fund that is restricted for only non-program expenses? All else aside, if Mullaney's compensation were lower, then more of the temporarily restricted funds could be available for other expenses."
Charity Watch's criticism goes on to say: "Money is fungible, regardless of its source; what is spent on one function is not available for another function. The bottom line is that more donations could go toward treating children with cleft palates if the charity were operating more efficiently, regardless of whether or not some donors earmarked their donations for overhead."
Further criticism appeared in an article in The Examiner (June 25, 2009), entitled "Smile Train's tactics with Oprah, financials raise serious questions."
Givewell.org expressed concern on the company's lack of transparency and accountability, stating: "We do not have the information we would need to be confident in the effectiveness of Smile Train's programs, particularly regarding quality control of surgeries and education in the developing world. We also do not have a clear breakdown of how funding is spent by program (as over 30% of program expenses are spent on a program that we can't identify a description for)." [1]
Charang1 ( talk) 05:22, 18 October 2013 (UTC)
I made a few minor improvements to the article and added a COI template to this talk page, which discloses that I am working for Smile Train via Glover Park Group as part of my work at Beutler Ink. Here is a diff displaying the changes I made to the article (no major content changes). I added two relevant categories, corrected the company's name once by adding a space, corrected linking to New York City in the infobox (and removed the logo width command), corrected the spelling (punctuation) of "Washington, D.C.", formatted references, and changed the tense of one sentence. Please let me know if you have any concerns about these changes to the article. Thanks! - Inkian Jason ( talk) 18:39, 2 February 2016 (UTC)
![]() | This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. |
Hi, I'm Shari and I'm here on behalf of my employer, Smile Train. With some help from Glover Park Group and Beutler Ink to put together appropriate content and formatting, I want to propose some updates for this page. To begin, I have two straightforward requests, the first of which is to make the following additions to the article’s "Partnerships and supporters" section:
In 2015, Smile Train participated in Giving Tuesday and announced its own "Give a Smile, Get a Smile" campaign to help children with clefts. In an effort to raise awareness of the campaign and funds, American supermodel and Smile Train Goodwill Ambassador Christie Brinkley lit the Empire State Building in Smile Train’s signature colors, red and blue. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
In 2016, Smile Train partnered with the Miss Universe Organization to increase awareness of the issues faced by children in developing countries who are living with unrepaired clefts. The partnership also allows the reigning Miss Universe, Pia Wurtzbach, to become involved in Smile Train’s global initiatives. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
References
Thank you. SM at Smile Train ( talk) 18:41, 24 February 2016 (UTC)
References
![]() | Part of an edit requested by an editor with a conflict of interest has been implemented. |
Hi again, per my first request above, I'm Shari and I'm here on behalf of my employer, Smile Train. As well as the additions above to the "Partnerships and supporters" section, I propose the following addition to the "Recognition" section:
In 2013, the documentary Dzachuka’s Smile, which was co-produced by China Central Television Documentary Channel (CCTV) and Smile Train, received the Gold Panda Award for Best Documentary in Society for Asian Production at the 2013 Sichuan TV Festival. The documentary follows the Lamu Sisters’ efforts to help children with clefts living on the Dzachuka Plateau. [1]
The National Training Simulation Association (NTSA), which is a subsidiary of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), presents annual awards to honor “outstanding achievement in the development or application of models and simulations”. In 2013, NTSA recognized Smile Train and BioDigital in the “training” category for their collaborative work on Smile Train's Virtual Surgery Simulator, the first “open-access, web-based, interactive, surgical teaching tool” for training surgeons in developing countries to repair cleft lips and palates. [2] [3] [4]
References
Thank you. SM at Smile Train ( talk) 18:46, 24 February 2016 (UTC)
References
![]() | Part of an edit requested by an editor with a conflict of interest has been implemented. |
On behalf of Smile Train, I have another request for an update the article. I would like to request the addition of two pieces of information to the article's "History" section.
Currently, the article does not mention World Journal of Surgery's 2016 independent study, which was conducted using data from Smile Train patient records. I have proposed an addition to the article, with formatted referencing, below:
In 2016, World Journal of Surgery published the comprehensive independent study "Economic Valuation of the Global Burden of Cleft Disease Averted by a Large Cleft Charity", which was conducted using data from 547,769 Smile Train patient records of primary cleft procedures (58 percent cleft lip repairs, 42 percent cleft palate repairs). The study measured the economic impact of cleft repair surgery over a ten-year period (2001–2011) and "[quantified] the burden of disease averted through the global surgical work of a large cleft charity". It concluded that for each $250 cleft repair surgery, as much as $50,000 is returned to the local economy as patients contribute to productivity. The total economic impact achieved as a result of their cleft repair surgeries in 83 countries between 2001 and 2011 amounts to as much as $27 billion. [1] [2] [3]
Also, I would like to request an addition regarding Brian Mullaney's departure from the organization in 2010. In order to keep the article in chronological order, I think this text would be best placed in the "History" section, between the 2008 Pan African Anaesthesia Symposium and the 2014 "The Power of a Smile" campaign. Please see the following proposed text along with formatted references:
In October 2010, Smile Train experienced a major leadership change which included the departure of Mullaney and other top executives. According to Wang, the organization's board had directed Smile Train's senior management to focus on cleft-related initiatives and this directive was not followed, which led to a loss in confidence in the leadership and the decision to change the management. [4] [5]
References
I am open to different wording if you have any suggestions. Thank you for your consideration. SM at Smile Train ( talk) 14:28, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
![]() | Part of an edit requested by an editor with a conflict of interest has been implemented. |
On behalf of Smile Train, I'd like to propose one correction to the article's "Partnerships and supporters" section. Currently, the article reads, "... through these local partnerships, the organization is able to provide free surgery for children any day of the year, with more than 120,000 surgeries each year."
However, I propose the following text instead:
... through these local partnerships, the organization is able to provide free surgery for children any day of the year. Smile Train has provided more than 1 million surgeries since its inception, averaging one every five minutes.
This language follows the source, which is already used in the article. In other words, the source no longer verifies the current article's claim, so the language should be updated accordingly. (No change to the inline citation is required.)
Again, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I appreciate your assistance in advance. SM at Smile Train ( talk) 14:29, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
![]() | This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered. |
I submitted a more detailed request above, but never heard back about a simplified addition to the article's history section acknowledging Mullaney's departure from the organization. As I said before, there are many articles discussing the relationship between Mullaney and Smile Train, so I am just trying to update the article to include his departure as part of the company's general history. In order to keep the article in chronological order, I think this text would be best placed in the "History" section, between the 2008 Pan African Anaesthesia Symposium and the 2014 "The Power of a Smile" campaign.
Please see the following proposed text along with formatted references:
References
Again, I am open to different wording if a reviewer has a specific suggestion. Thanks for your consideration. SM at Smile Train ( talk) 14:33, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
Done This is good, covers the topic without getting into the weeds.
RevelationDirect (
talk)
00:07, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
![]() | This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. Old request - please update. |
On behalf of Smile Train, I have another request for the article's History section, this time regarding the information on Operation Smile. The "Smile Train and Operation Smile" subsection heading seems unnecessary. With the heading in place, it seems to place a lot of weight on the interactions of the two organizations. Based on RevelationDirect's input on a previous request it sounds like the level of detail about the two organizations' interactions right now might not be appropriate at all in the article.
So, I have two suggestions:
1. I wonder if editors would be open to the idea of removing the "Smile Train and Operation Smile" heading and incorporating the details into the History, chronologically?
2. I propose the following wording update, to re-organize and condense the information to a simple, encyclopedic overview:
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Please let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for any assistance in advance. SM at Smile Train ( talk) 14:35, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
![]() | This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. A reviewer felt that this edit would not improve the article. |
On behalf of my employer Smile Train, I have a final request for two updates to the article, including: 1) removal of the "citation needed" tag from the opening paragraph and 2) the addition of Gregg Sulkin as a supporter.
1. Currently, the opening paragraph has a "citation needed" tag about the organization's size. I'd like to offer the following sources to verify that Smile Train is the largest organization providing cleft lip and palate repairs for children. Please see the following formatted sources below, which can easily be copied and converted to inline citations:
I am sure there are other sources that could be used, but hopefully these will work. Is someone willing to update the article by adding sources appropriately and removing the "citation needed" tag on my behalf? I prefer not to edit the article directly given my conflict of interest.
2. Can Gregg Sulkin be added as a supporter within the current list in the Partnerships and supporters section, given the following sources?
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)Thank you for your assistance. SM at Smile Train ( talk) 14:29, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
I may spend a short while improving this article; it looks like it's been very manipulated in the past and then largely abandoned. As a consequence, parts of it look like hopelessly out of date PR. For now, I'm just going to point out that Charles B Wang, 'key personnel' is long dead. So I've changed that. Emmentalist ( talk) 20:45, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
I've edited out some outdated material and some daft PR guff. Essentially, Smile Train is a notable organisation for a number of reasons, mainly good but also bad. This article has been distorted by obvious PR efforts which all seems to have been done about half a dozen years ago. Maybe the company hired someone to improve their Wiki page (see Talk above) at that time? Anyway, once I've taken out the chaff I'll restructure it. It'll be shorter but better. Any comments from Wikipedians interested most welcome. Emmentalist ( talk) 07:37, 16 October 2022 (UTC)
I've removed quite a bit of material - it's a bold edit so do consider reviewing. Consistent with what I've said above, much of the material reflects an old and time-bound PR effort. It constained a lot of trivia and references back to the organisation's own website (maintained by the same PR people most likely). It may look like a slash-and-burn operation but over the next day or two I will add in some new material with up to date references. If you're considering reverting any points, could you possibly wait for 2 days so that you can see the updated article first? All the best, Emmentalist ( talk) 08:03, 16 October 2022 (UTC)
I've finished editing for now. I've cut the PR rubbish out and balanced the article. The simple fact is that Smile Train is a world leader in providing a much-needed service to some of the poorest people in the world, and in a way which adds great value to the countries it serves. I have have no axe to grind, so should anyone feel it is appropriate to emphasise goings-on re: remuneration many years ago, I'd appreciate a chance to respond before you revert. All the best, Emmentalist ( talk) 20:51, 27 October 2022 (UTC)